3D printed face shields
Face shields are used by health care professionals to protect them when working with patients. Hospital supplies are running low. While they prefer to use commercially manufactured ones, in this emergency they are looking for alternative sources.
Visit COVID Shield Nexus for additional information on the overall program.
Overview
The headband portion of these shields is made on a 3D printer. If you have a 3D printer, you can make these. We have several at Maker Nexus that will be running as long as we have supplies. We deliver them to local hospitals.
- Sign up to use your own 3D printer to help
- Sign up to receive face shields for your health care facility
In the News
- A TV segment from KPIX
- Watch a short KTVU news report about our efforts.
How much do they cost?
We give these away, paying for them from donations. We do not sell them. Promises of donations or actual donations do not affect who is prioritized to receive the PPE. The allocation team is not told who has donated. However, they cost us about $5 each to make. Donations are critical for us to be able to keep producing. We will make them until the money runs out.
Donate via Paypal to support COVID-19 response efforts by Maker Nexus.
Is there really a need?
- We've heard from friends that "nurses are cutting up plastic soda bottles to make face shields, using saran wrap on top of N95 masks to allow for multi-use."
- One local nurse said they are making face shields from cut up shower curtains and hot glue guns.
- In reviewing the current design: "The nurses were over the moon about how easily the shields can be disassembled and sterilized."
- A nurse from Marin called us and I got her hooked into the allocation process and told her they were free. She started crying on the phone. - JimS
See stories from those who have received face shields from us.
We are ramping up to make 1,000 a week, maybe more.
How do I get some?
If your health care facility needs face shields, fill in this form:
My Facility Needs Face Shields (click the link)
A link to Other COVID Projects
3D Print Parts At Home
Use Your 3D Printer for good
Sign up
We are establishing a network of 3D printer owners who can make the headbands for us. You make them and deliver them to our facility where we do the assembly and get them to the hospitals. If you want to be part of our network, fill in this form and we will contact you:
I want to help make them
What to do with the finished product
When you have parts ready to deliver, please follow the following steps:
- Fill out this form with information about your donation (so we can track inventory)
- Seal in plastic bag.
- Label bag with your email, the version of face shield you printed (e.g. "MN 1.3" see releases in parts below; or "RC2" if you used that), the material printed with and the date you closed the bag.
- Mail to
Maker Nexus 234 E. Caribbean Drive Sunnyvale, CA 94089
OR Deliver to us if you are local and it does not violate the Shelter In Place Order - please do not make a special trip for this - but if you are passing by on your way to get essential groceries and want to drop it off, that is acceptable - there is a box outside our front door where donated parts can be placed.
Please be sure you are following proper sanitation procedures when you bag parts - if possible, wear gloves and a breathing mask, wipe or spray with disinfectant if available. We want to minimize the chance of cross-contamination. After it reaches MN, we will be further disinfecting them before delivering to its end destination.
We have some limited amount of 1.75mm PETg, ABS, and PLA that we can give you when you have dropped off 20 or more face shields parts. Supplies are very limited so please only take some if you need it. Just ring the door bell and ask if we have any filament in stock.
3D Print Directions
Materials
PETG filament Sources
These face shields are best done with PETG filament. A 1kg spool can make about 20 units.
- Matter Hackers
- 3mm product id # MF3CF7NH 1kg about $25
- 1.75mm product id # M3MY2VQG 1kg about $24 (only $20 each if you buy 5)
- 1.75mm product id # MTVEPT25 10 pounds (4.5kg) about $185 It is a higher quality PETG filament, but is it really worth the extra cost?
PETG Sheet Sources
One 48x96 inch sheet can make about 24 shields.
- Piedmont Plastics in San Leandro, CA. .020x48x96 CLR VIVAK PETG JFM about $16/sheet.
Instructions
Printer Settings
Print with PETG for ease of sanitation - IPA, Hydrogen Peroxide, Bleach, and Acetic Acid up to 10% can all be safely used with PETG. If you don't have PETG, using ABS and PLA is also an approved option.
Print settings:
- Temperature based on filament selection.
- 3 perimeters
- 100% infill
- 0.3mm Draft settings in PrusaSlicer work fine
- we are running our Prusa's at 130% speed
Parts
NOW
We got the injection molded headbands started, so now we only need the bottom reinforcements of the shields. Lots of them: the injection molding process can generate thousands of headbands a day, so we need the same amount of bottom reinforcments - which we need to still 3D print. We need lots of them! So focus now is entirely going to be printing bottom reinforcments.
It is great as even small printers can be fully utilized!
On one built-plate of a Prusa, there fit 34 (might be a little bit more with more squeezing); it takes a little bit more than 8 hours, which is great for night-shifts, as there is no lost time. This also means that in optimal situations, we can get around 100 per day per printer.
GCode:
- bottoms-PETG-Prusa.gcode PETG for Prusa MK3s
- bottoms-PLA-Prusa.gcode PETG for Prusa MK3s
- plate-full-of-bottom-supports.3mf 3mf Project file for prusa-slicer
- bottom_reinfocement.stl STL do manually fill your build-plate and slice.
Historic
Don't look at this section for printing anything, see above about current priorities. The headbands are now fabricated with injection molding, so we don't need to print them anymore, but we need lots of bottom reinforcements.
Most important change in our headband design is that the pins are centered in the headband, so that there is something covering the shield punch, making a better seal. Also, the radii in the crevices are larger than the original to facilitate easier sanitation.
Latest release is v1.9 (2020-04-06)
This archive contains (next to the source files) the following files used used to print, which you also can download here:
- Ready-to-go GCode: T9-PETG-Prusa.gcode (right click, download or save link as...) for PETG, T9-PLA-Prusa.gcode for PLA. This prints two headbands and two bottom stabilizers. Using print-speed of 130% on the Prusa seems to work fine. If you use ABS, please use the files below to slice for your printer. These print with little 'D-shaped' supports in front of the pins, that should break off easily.
- 3MF slicer project file thin_shield.3mf for PETG and thin_pla_shield.3mf for PLA. This allows you to choose placement, temperatures, select which parts to print on the bed etc.
- slice yourself thin_shield_with_support.stl (right click, download or save link as...) for PETG, thin_pla_shield_with_support.stl for PLA. There is also a no-support stl version in case you want to add support for the front-pins yourself in your slicer. If you _do_ print with build-in supports, make sure to enable the 'Detect Thin Walls' feature in your slicer.
Also please print one bottom_reinforcement.stl per headband (sometimes it is more efficient to do that separately). If you slice the version with built-in support, make sure to have 'enable thin wall detection' in your slicer. The 3mf files already have that enabled.
If your printer can't fit a headband, you can still help and print the bottom parts, stabilizing the shield plastic: Print as many bottom_reinforcement.stl that you fit on your print-bed: we need them as many people with larger print-beds focus on the headbands itself right now. Here is a plate-full-of-bottom-supports.3mf file to load directly into a slicer. Sometimes it is a good idea to use the night-time shift to print these.
More files, 3mf and STL you get directly on Github: https://github.com/makernexus/prusa-covid19-shield-remix#cut-to-the-chase-gcode-ready-to-use
Laser Cut Parts
The shields are cut from 0.020 inch thick PETG sheets. Our base design fits into sheets of 24"x32". If we get donations of larger sheets, then we cut it down before using it. We have successfully used 0.030, it is more expensive. 0.040 is too thick and will not snap onto the headband.
We tested laser cutting .015 PETG. Key takeaways: Works, but requires more cleaning. .020 is a clearly superior product, but .015 will work. The primary issue is that that lack of clear film on both surfaces results in smoke residue which can be wiped clean with typical cleaners. Mitigation - Alternative cutting process would alleviate the problem - CNC Drag knife of Vinyl Cutter may work. The thinner film results in a flexible shield more in line with disposable shield - this will likely result in fewer uses before being thrown away.
Elastic Band
Each shield uses approximately 8 inches of button hole elastic, 3/4 inch wide.
Sources
Assembly and Disassembly
Each box of face shields contains a QR Code that links to Covid-19 Shield User Instructions
Assembly
Assembly requires about 8" of 3/4 wide button hole elastic.
- A short video on how to assemble the Maker Nexus face shield version RC2
- A nice graphic on assembly also here PDF
Disassembly for cleaning
These face shields can be taken apart for cleaning.
The sheets are made of PETG and can handle alcohol and UV. The head band and spreader could be made of PETG, ABS, or PLA. These all resist alcohol but are heat sensitive. We are not experts in how to sanitize equipment. You, as user, take responsibility for appropriate sanitization. See this page from Prusa Research for information on sanitization methods currently being tested.
A short video on how to take the Maker Nexus face shield apart
Help at MN
At this time we do not need volunteers in the makerspace itself. The space is on lockdown so that we do not introduce the virus into our work area.
Donations Needed
- PETG filament is useful - if you aren't able to print yourself. Any color in both 1.75mm and 3mm diameter filament. It should be in a factory sealed box or in a bag with desiccant.
- 3/4"-1" button hole elastic
- 0.020" thick PETG film for disposable masks, sheets or rolls
You can drop-off the donations at Maker Nexus, just leave it in the box by the front door of Maker Nexus. Please use appropriate procedures when packaging - including wearing a new pair of gloves and a face mask if available.
You can also donate via PayPal towards COVID-19 efforts that Maker Nexus is working on. Donate via Paypal to support COVID-19 response efforts by Maker Nexus.
Who to contact
MN members join the #covid-faceshield channel on Slack
If you don't have access to Slack, please email faceshields@makernexus.org
External Links
Information & Discussions
- External slack for Prusa Shield discussions
Other Alternatives
We sincerely hope that all health care workers get the PPE that they need. However, in some parts of the world this may not happen. We believe the design we are using is the best for our team to make. There are, however, other solutions and we will list some here.
- Low end for complete emergency use. Tape, sticks, and a sheet protector.
- NIH exchange has a number of different designs
- The original design Prusa RC2 STL- On this page